Aadhaar a 'bedrock' for govt welfare schemes, saved over Rs 2 trn: NITI

Aadhaar has become the "bedrock" for the government's welfare schemes and has saved over Rs 2 trillion to the government by "eliminating fake and duplicate identities", says NITI Aayog CEO

NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant on Wednesday said that Aadhaar has become the "bedrock" for the government's welfare schemes and has saved over Rs 2 lakh crore to the government by "eliminating fake and duplicate identities".

Taking part in a workshop on 'Recent Initiatives for Simplifying Aadhaar usage' in the national capital, Kant said, "Aadhaar has become the bedrock for government welfare schemes, ensured faster benefit transfers without any intervention or intermediaries and saved a vast amount of money."

He also called Aadhaar one of the "most successful" biometric-based identity programs in the world, which has prompted deliberations and discussions with international multilateral agencies, like the World Bank and United Nations, to explore how the Aadhar architecture may be adopted in other countries.

"It is commendable to know that 315 Central Schemes and 500 state schemes are leveraging Aadhaar to ensure effective delivery of services...Aadhaar has now become the bedrock for government welfare schemes, ensuring faster benefit transfers without any interruption or intermediaries, saving Rs 2.22 lakh crore rupees to the government by eliminating fake and duplicate identities," Kant said.

Aadhaar number is a 12-digit random number issued by the UIDAI ("Authority") to the residents of India after satisfying the verification process laid down by the Authority. Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident of India, may voluntarily enrol to obtain Aadhaar number.

The person willing to enroll has to provide minimal demographic and biometric information during the enrolment process which is totally free of cost. An individual needs to enrol for Aadhaar only once and after de-duplication only one Aadhaar shall be generated, as the uniqueness is achieved through the process of demographic and biometric de-duplication.

Aadhaar number is verifiable in an online, cost-effective way. It is unique and robust enough to eliminate duplicates and fake identities and may be used as a basis/primary identifier to roll out several Government welfare schemes and programmes for effective service delivery thereby promoting transparency and good governance. This is the only program of its kind globally, wherein a state-of-the-art digital and online Id is being provided free of cost at such a large scale to people, and has the potential to change the way service delivery functions in the country.